“Is Gabrielle here?”
“She is,” she heard Councilman Henderson say. “I didn’t think you would come by that quickly Simmons.”
“It’s urgent.”
He burst through the living room and his eyes were fearful to see as they took in Gaby seated on the couch.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“My job,” she said clearly. “I would like to know what you are doing here.”
“Stopping you from being a nuisance.”
Councilman Henderson appeared and looked at the two with interest.
“She isn’t being a nuisance,” Councilman Henderson said. “I think she is good for you, getting your story out.”
“There’s no need for that,” Jamie said fiercely.
“I have always pushed you hard Simmons,” Councilman Henderson said, “But maybe it’s time that you forget about your past things and learn to forgive yourself. I may still blame you but Sally…”
“We are done,” Jamie said. He reached for her hand, gripping it tightly and pulling her. A yelp left her and before she could do anything, she was being pulled out of the house. Jamie didn’t stop until they were a good distance away and then she tore her hand from his grip.
“How dare you!” she said indignantly. “You had no right to do that!”
“I did. Seeing as you were interviewing him about me, I had complete and total right to do that,” he said fiercely.
“I did tell you I was going to go around interviewing about you,” she said.
He paused, knowing that she was right but then said,
“I didn’t think you would go to him. Councilman Henderson has no right to love me.”
“He didn’t imply that nor did he imply that he hated you. Jamie,” she said, saying his name for the first time. “Stop trying to hinder me.”
“Stop trying to pry into my past.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Why can’t you? Your story is done; you are a big shot reporter, why do you want a story on me?” He demanded.
That made her stop. He couldn’t tell her why he was so intent on hiding his story and she couldn’t tell him why she wanted to do this story. They were at an impasse.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“I am warning you Gabrielle, stop your efforts. There’s nothing you can find here.”
With that, he stalked away from her, leaving her feeling pathetic on the sidewalk as she mulled over the strength of his words.
For whom was she doing this story?
Chapter Nine
She shouldn’t feel guilty.
It didn’t make sense, why would she feel guilty for doing her job? But every time Gaby saw Jamie’s face in her mind; she felt a sense of guilt gnawing at her insides. He had seemed so angry with her that it made her doubt the legitimacy of going through with this investigation. What was the point of making someone sad?
No, it wasn’t someone, it was Jamie. What was the point of making him sad? That begged her to ask the question, why did she care about Jamie Simmons? Granted, they had only one good conversation, but somehow she cared about upsetting him somehow. Wasn’t that why she was, at this moment, laid out on her couch, staring into space instead of working on the article like she should be?
She had already overstayed her time, the week she was supposed to stay was already over and she was at Day 10. Joe had called about that but she had listlessly promised him that she would have the article sent to him in a day or two while asking him to dig up anything about Jamie Simmons or Sally Henderson. That had made her feel worse. She almost wanted to stop doing the investigation, but now it was more to satisfy her curiosity and less about her story. She was starting to think that there was no point in writing a story about him. She was just wasting her time.
Ms. Hay had come by to see how she was doing and to ask her delicately about the rent seeing as she had passed the time the paper was going to pay for it so she had signed it over from her own pocket. Who cared, it wasn’t that much and she could stay as long as she could pay.
She hadn’t seen him in four days. It was gnawing inside of her. She wanted to see him. She wanted to talk to him, apologize maybe.
What the councilman had said had stuck to her. He hadn’t insulted Jamie Simmons, if anything he had said something about Jamie forgiving himself. What had Jamie done that required forgiveness? She wanted to know that as well, but she didn’t know how she could actually figure that out. Was there something Jamie was hiding? Something that he had done?
All these hints, they tugged at her but not for a story and that was when she realized that she didn’t want to know his story to write, she wanted to know his story so that she could know the truth. She was personally invested in Jamie Simmons now. How stupid could she be?
Gaby groaned and sat up, her stomach rumbling. She needed some food and then she would finish this stupid article and send it to Joe. There was no need for her to be invested anymore. Finish the article and leave the town, forget Jamie Simmons. And that thought made a pang go through her heart.
She went into the kitchen, fixing herself something as she told herself that she was fine. When she returned, she saw that she had a message.
Found something on the person you wanted me to, sent it to your mail. You owe me one.
She put down her food, her heart thumping with anticipation at what Joe had found for her. She wanted to know, could this lead her to the answer? She ate a piece of her sandwich and opened the document that Joe had sent. It was an article and as she read through it, her mouth went slack, forgetting to chew what was in her mouth. She swallowed hastily, feeling indignation and horror going through her.
Oh god, she thought. What have I done?
I have to apologize right now, she thought. She looked outside, it was dark but who cared. She had to do this right now. No wonder, he felt so guilty, no wonder he wanted to hide this.
I am stupid; she thought as she pulled on a jacket and ran out the front door.
***
“You know,” Drew said sardonically. “I think the food in this house will be very happy if you don’t take out your anger on it.”
Jamie looked at Drew blandly and then down at his mashed potatoes which were spread all over his plate. He could see that Lana and Pete were hiding smiles while Mark pretended not to see anything. He gathered them again and said to Drew,
“Mind your own business.”
“I would if you stop spraying me with mashed potatoes,” he said, flicking some off his sleeve. “Seriously, if someone made you mad, don’t you think the logical thing is to go talk to them about it?”
“No one made me mad.”
“And the Easter Bunny visited me last night,” Drew said sarcastically. “It’s the reporter isn’t it? I feel like we should give her a name now.”
“Her name is Gabrielle and she is none of my concern now.”
“That makes me think she is your concern.”
Jamie gripped his fork tightly and Mark interjected,
“Maybe it’s better if we don’t have bloodshed right now.”
Jamie fumed as the rest of dinner went by and after Lana cleared everything, Drew indicated for him to go outside. They walked outside, feeling the cool breeze and sat down on the porch.
“So what’s bothering you?” Drew asked.
“Nothing,” Jamie said.
Drew fixed him with a stare and Jamie sighed.
“Gabrielle has been trying to write a story about me, she’s been digging around.”
“I see,” Drew said. “That bothers you?”
“It does.”
“Lots of people have pried about you, you are the town’s mystery pariah, why does she bother you so much?”
That made Jamie think. Why did she bother him so much? In a way, she was the one person he didn’t want to know about his past, because he was afraid it would influence her in some way. Did that mean he saw her in a different way? That couldn
’t be it.
“Speaking of people,” Drew said. “I would say you have a visitor.”
“What?” Jamie said looking up to see a figure running towards them.
The figure got closer and he saw to his shock that it was Gabrielle, dressed in slacks and a t shirt with a jacket over her. She was gasping for breath, her hair completely out of place and as she bent over, Drew stood up.
“I’ll be inside; making sure no one bothers you.”
He left the two of them alone and Jamie could only stare at Gabrielle who was still trying to catch her breath.
“What are you doing here?” he asked calmly.
“I had to see you,” she said. “I…I found the article.”
He froze, unable to say anything and she stepped closer to him.
“I am so sorry, I didn’t realize that…”
“You have nothing to apologize for. It happened a long time ago.”
“But I didn’t think that Sally would…”
“She did what she thought was right for her,” Jamie said. “I have nothing against her for it. It happened a long time ago.”
“Didn’t you ever try to ask her why she stole your work? Or the reporter for falsely reporting that it was her work?”
“I can only assume she had a hand in that. Sally wanted that life and she probably got jealous from the way I only focused on myself. Sally gave up her life here to come with me, but she never found anything there that caught her, until she fell in love with photography. But she didn’t get the exposure she was getting so she stole one of my works and claimed that it was hers. At first I was mad at her, but then I decided that I didn’t really care,” Jamie said slowly. “I always thought that I was in love with Sally, but she never saw it that way. She thought I was a dear friend and maybe I thought that letting her have this was my way of atonement for making her give up her life.”
“But I don’t get what your promise is then. You came back, but why did you work in the council office?” Gaby asked.
He indicated that she sit down beside him and took a deep breath.
“Before I left, Sally made me promise that I would take care of her father. She did apologize for what she did, but I told her she could have it. Her request was that I take care of her father because she would rarely come back and I agreed. Her father didn’t know about that or maybe he does. Henderson is a mysterious guy, he let me work for him in the council office and I haven’t stopped since.”
“I think he was trying to tell you that when I went to him,” Gabrielle said. “That you don’t need to honor it anymore.”
“Maybe he was,” Jamie said. “I am still going to do it. I like the work and the other three handle the ranch well enough.”
For a few minutes they were quiet and then Jamie said,
“You have your story now, are you going to publish it?”
She shook her head. “I quit it. I don’t have any story to publish.”
“Why not?” he asked surprised.
“I am not that type of person and besides, I didn’t really have a motivation for it.”
Gabrielle took a deep breath and said,
“I needed a story for selfish reasons.”
She made a split decision and decided that since he had told her about his story, she might as well tell him about hers.
“The reason I needed the story was to get my credibility back. Before I came here, I was working the hot stories, going around the city, interviewing everyone, living the best life as you can imagine. I wanted my name to be known but I made one mistake. I went into a relationship with a co-worker without knowing that he was married. To be honest, he didn’t bother telling me and I was so caught up in being the best that I didn’t bother to search. But then…” her voice choked up as she remembered.
“His wife came to me, in the office and begged me to let him go. It was a rude eye opening and then I confronted him. Joe had to demote both of us so that we didn’t kill each other.”
“That’s why you were sent here,” Jamie connected.
She nodded. “I was put on this last minute because he wanted the two of us away from each other.”
“Did you love him?”
She thought about it and shook her head.
“I don’t think it was about love really, it was more about convenience and he fulfilled my ego, the orphan kid being successful and all that.”
“He called that day at the diner, didn’t he?”
“You are pretty smart, Jamie,” she complimented, smiling. “Yeah, he did. Wanted me back, god knows why. There, we are both on equal ground now.”
Jamie laughed and said, “We both made mistakes and suffered for it.”
“We are human after all,” she said.
“You aren’t so bad, Gabrielle, I may have misjudged you a bit,” he admitted.
“Good thing you learned then,” she said.
“So what are you gonna do now?” he asked.
“Stick around a bit, bother you a bit. I don’t know,” she said. “Don’t have anything to do to be honest.”
“I wouldn’t mind that.”
She looked at him in surprise and then looked away quickly, unable to bear his gaze.
“You might regret that.”
“Let’s see then.”
And the two sat there without words, staring at the night sky, finally at peace with one another.
Chapter Ten
It was Gaby’s idea to come and learn the ways of the ranch.
Jamie had only raised his eyebrows when she had suggested over their daily lunch that she spend a day at the ranch with him and everyone else so that she could learn it.
“Besides, it could help me one day,” she had said optimistically.
Jamie didn’t know in what way it could help her, but seeing her enthusiasm, he had agreed and couldn’t wait to see how she was going to deal with working on the ranch with them. Even Cat had to take some time before she could have adjusted to it but Gaby seemed very optimistic.
It had been ten days since the two had shared their regrets and somehow that had paved the way for them to become closer. They had lunch together, took some walks and she even asked him about things to do around the town.
He didn’t mention the council and she didn’t mention work except in passing. They talked about music, books, whatever came to their minds and he liked that. He was also aware that she was lingering on his mind more than he would have thought she would, that he would find himself in the middle of work and then suddenly she would come to mind, making him smile. It was worrisome in a way but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he tried his best to reign in his thoughts and be a friend. Just a friend.
“It’s going to be great,” Gaby said as she walked across the field.
Jamie nodded and smiled at what she was wearing. It was casual but completely wrong if she was going to work in the ranch. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt but it looked new. She was going to end up ruining it.
“Are you sure about your clothes?” he asked.
She looked down at herself self-consciously.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” he said. “I was just asking.”
“I’m sure,” she said smiling, taking his breath away. She had the ability to do that, he noticed and he could only stare as she ran ahead to where Mark was waiting for them with Cat.
“You are taking on a big challenge,” Cat said. “Are you sure about that?”
“Completely sure,” Gaby said.
“Take it easy,” Jamie cautioned. “I don’t want you hurt.”
“She is going to get hurt,” Cat said. “It’s just matter of when and how.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Gaby said sourly.
Jamie patted her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks,” Gaby said, her cheeks blushing slightly as she walked away with Cat.
“You know,” said Drew suddenly coming out of nowhere. “It’s the fir
st time you brought a girl to the ranch.”
“And your point is?” Jamie said testily.
“You know,” Mark said. “I’ll leave the two big bros to their talk and go see what Cat has in store for Gaby.”
He walked off, leaving the two spectating as Cat led Gaby to a pile of hay.
“Why did you even let her come?” Drew asked.
“She wanted to have some fun,” Jamie said.
Drew snorted. “You know that’s not how it works. You like her.”
Jamie didn’t deny it as he watched Gaby struggle with the hay. He even smiled as she toppled over under its weight and Cat had to help her with it.
“Why aren’t you telling her?” Drew asked.
“She has her own life which doesn’t involve me. Who knows how long she’ll stay here, a week? A month? Then she’ll have to leave.”
“That’s not something that should stop you,” Drew said.
“What’s your point?” Jamie asked.
“I am just saying,” Drew said. “If you like her enough, you should give her a reason to stay.”
Jamie couldn’t fault the logic but suddenly he heard her yelp and without thinking, he was running towards her. Gaby was on the ground, cursing as she stared at her arm.
“What happened?” Jamie asked sharply.
“She lost balance on one of the stacks,” Cat said.
“I’m fine,” Gaby said wincing a bit.
“You are not fine,” he said gently, sitting down beside her. He took her arm and saw a large bruise starting to form on her arm. “This is why I told you to be careful.”
“I am fine, really.” She said.
“Why don’t you sit down a bit,” Jamie suggested. “And then go help them with the horses?”
“Fine,” she pouted adorably.
Drew threw him a look as the three of them walked off and Jamie led Gaby to the side so that they could sit down together.
“I can’t believe I hurt myself like that,” she said. “You must think I’m silly.”
“Nothing about that,” Jamie said. “Everyone is out of tune with new things. You wouldn’t expect me to write an award winning piece now would you?”
Jamie: A Simmons Brothers Story Page 6
